


A Captured Son

by Genuka



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Family, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Random Updates, Rating May Change, Tags May Change, The Force, Warnings May Change, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:21:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23316085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genuka/pseuds/Genuka
Summary: Luke really didn't expect to activelyaskhis captors to call Vader and hand him over to his father. Then again he hadn't expected to be captured by pirates while scouting a potential system for an asteroid base, mining & refinement facility for the rebellion either...Note: Title may change if I come up with something better.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader & Luke Skywalker, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader
Comments: 57
Kudos: 265





	1. Hangerbay Blues - ch 1

**Author's Note:**

> Right, so this spawned from a very random idea. I'm not sure if the muse will keep following the bunny but I am employing condensed story sections and time skips to at least try & follow part of the bunny... Enjoy!
> 
> Starter Bunny:
> 
> Luke is captured by Vader and the Emperor allows them to stay together on the condition that they stay within a certain distance of each other. In trade for Luke's compliance he is allowed to name five people for an immediate pardon and the Rebellion will be granted freedom to purchase supplies on one world for three months. Luke is not allowed to even remotely try to leave Vader's side for at least six months or the deal is forfeit. Any further training in the force is to be basic skills review only until the Emperor decides differently. Luke is also to be trained as a potential heir to the throne. Needless to say no one but the two Sith are happy about this.

Blue eyes looked up from the starfighter engine he was working on to glance around the mildly busy hanger bay. His lanky form and young features hid his age, skills, and past. The lightsaber that hung on his belt, however, spoke of daunting potential. The young man could _feel_ things that others could not and right in that moment his senses were telling him that something was _wrong_. Wiping his hands on a cleaning cloth the young man casually prepared to abandon what he was doing while looking to the world like he was just cleaning up to take a break. Luke Skywalker stood and stretched widely on top of the X-Wing fighter he had been working on as he casually scanned the area around him. Not seeing anything amiss he shrugged and climbed down, heading for the entrance and the base beyond as the soft warning of eyes on him itched in the back of his skull.

The events on Bespin had been a nasty shock and only a new experimental treatment had allowed him to regrow his missing hand. It wasn't widely advertised but his testing of the treatment, off the books, had bought the rebellion a cargo holds worth of medical supplies. If the treatment had failed Luke would have been, willingly, handed over to the Empire as the bounty on his head would have covered three cargo holds worth of _very_ expensive medical supplies. It was a no lose situation for the company and a risk Luke was glad to take. That had been a month ago and it was coming up on time for his latest check up.

"Luke!" Grax, a pink skinned near-human, jogged up to his friend's side and joined him in his walk out of the hanger bay. "So, I heard you got slated for the next mission to that one smashed system. Care to share?"

"I don't think we will find much if anything but someone got the bright idea that we can use it as a mining and refinement base. The smashed planets and gas giants make it a good out of the way spot for a general depot but something is itching at the back of my skull. Can't place it but the focus is... weird," Luke admitted at a more normal volume than his friend. "If we have bad intel it could be a pirate base or something rather than an untouched system of rock and gas. Nothing is going to be habital and friendly though if we get into trouble."

"Great," Grax grimaced. "I got tapped for another supply run. Ever since Solo got captured at Bespin we've been having more trouble keeping things reasonably stocked."

"I need a shower and something to eat before I head out. My engine has been a bit weird so I'll have to file a warning and see if I can take out a different ship, no X-Wing for me this trip," Luke groused, hiding his unease. The two pilots said good bye at the mess hall before splitting up and going about their tasks.

Filing the paperwork for the down check on his X-Wing and the exit flight plan for whatever ship he got as a replacement for his mission Luke quickly got something into his belly and headed for his bunk. A quick detour to the refresher and a hop into bed had him out cold in under two hours with nearly twelve hours before he had to leave.

The next time Luke got up he gathered up his kit and headed for the hanger, making a short pit stop to grab a quick breakfast. His temporary ship was pointed out to him by the deck officer and it was no surprise to Luke that it was a battered one man freighter. As unlikely as running into an Imperial patrol was it was still better to have some kind of cover story if the unnamed system did happen to have a random patrol winging through it.

"{Where do you think you are going?!}" R2 screeched just as Luke headed out towards his temporary ship.

"Artoo, I can't take you with me on this trip," Luke explained patiently. He got the feeling that the small astromech was mentally standing there tapping his foot like an irate mother. "Its just another scouting trip. The system doesn't even have a proper name so I doubt that anything bad is going to happen."

"{Skywalkers _always_ find trouble. Its why your family unit needs droids so much! We keep you from being turned off and decommissioned!}" R2 growled.

"I am going to need to do a bunch of looking around and maybe some solo space walks on an asteroid or two. That's it!" Luke protested. "Even I can't find an enemy when there is only open space and barren rock on the edge of known space with no space lanes near by!"

R2 made a doubtful sound but didn't try to stop his master again from heading towards the small freighter, an XS stock light freighter set up for only a pilot. The small droid watched it lift off and, had it been an organic, wouldn't have ignored the sudden inexplicable dread concerning the fate of one Luke Skywalker.

Three days later Luke was hanging from some heavy equipment with a new friend hanging a few feet away from him and wondering what the _kriff_ had happened. Mentally he reviewed what little he remembered. Arriving in-system without problems, stumbling over a weak ion trail around 12 hours into his general search, his ship getting clipped by an ion blast and largely short circuiting as a result... Oh, he had hit his head when that other ship forced an airlock connection for boarding. Things were fuzzy after that but Luke had been checked by a med droid and tied up in a random generic cabin. Then, waking up from a nightmare and possible force vision, Luke had panicked. Getting free and finding a hiding spot in a cargo hold hadn't been too difficult even with a ringing head, avoiding the blasted Rathtar - a orb-like creature with tentacles and teeth that were famous as being responsible for the Trillia Massacre. Although, finding a chained up Noghri he had to rescue in his scramble to escape the carnivorous orb was an even more nasty surprise in some ways.

Back to the present Luke and his new Noghri friend were clinging to and hidden by a bunch of hoses and pipes as the crew, obvious pirates, searched for the pair less than three meters down the oversized maintenance corridor in either direction. The one time Luke had stumbled into his new friend she, some how Luke just knew that it had to be a female, had reacted with shock to something about him only to sweep him out of the way of a blaster bolt a second later. The pair had stuck together without comment after that, dodging pirates and various pieces of dangerous equipment as they played a very lethal form of hide and seek. It was now two days after Luke had come too and started stumbling, scrambling, around the unfamiliar ship. The lack of food, water, and rest was getting to him and, as a consequence, his hands lost their grip at just the wrong moment. Luke fell only to sprawl out on the deck in front of both search parties and failed to scramble to his feet before being pinned in place by at least three pirates.

"Kill him and I will destroy you," came the hissing voice of the Noghri from above. Everyone craned around to look at her only to largely freeze at seeing exactly what piece of equipment her claws were ready to rip open. The air purifier unit was _vital_ to all of them surviving the next hours to say nothing of the heat exchange unit less than an arm's length further along the wall. She could easily freeze or suffocate the entire ship with one swipe of her claws.

"Why?" Luke asked, openly confused. The Noghri muttered something that vaguely sounded like foolish hatchlings but didn't actually answer him. The stun bolt took her in the side before she could act and as Luke instinctively tried to lunge forwards to catch her a solid blow from a blaster butt to the back of his head sent him into la la land.

Waking up in an obvious cargo hold flooded with too bright lights and chained to a wall next to the Noghri with a splitting headache was not pleasant. Realizing that he had been drugged with some sort of muscle relaxant until he was unavoidably as limp as a wet noodle on top of everything was worse in some ways.

"Now, boy, since you seem to have made friends with our scaly guest you can keep it company," a deeply unpleasant voice with a nasal echo to it told Luke through his pounding head. In response all Luke could do was moan and try to his his face in his own arm as his wrists were chained above his head to the bulkhead.

"Jax, I think you hit him a bit too hard," a gravelly voice chortled. "Ah well, the droid will get anything useful out of him even if his friend could only scream the first time they were introduced. Of course _this_ time it made a point to keep us away from you. You were supposed to wake up with quite a few more bruises, maybe a cracked rib or two... I know you both just met so why, exactly, did it try to protect you? Well boy?"

A quick look in the direction that he could feel the Noghri from had light stabbing into his brain through his eye balls but also gave him the unpleasant view of an obviously tortured form. As he watched the female died from blood loss. The Force, largely silent until now whispered to him. Luke mentally grimaced at the suggestion but didn't try to argue.

"I... don't know why she protected me. Maybe it was because I unchained her? I don't know much about Noghri, just that they tend to be found serving Vader," Luke admitted. There was no harm in telling them this and playing clueless farm boy again might help them underestimate him.

A metallic sound accompanied by the sound of a droid repulsor had Luke looking for and finding the droid. Unlike a normal imperial interrogation unit this thing wasn't just a floating black ball. Instead it had the floating black ball with a battered cylinder shaped droid that had various arms with many different built in blades of all kinds grafted on top. The glowing eye sensors were a bright, ominous red. Luke could practically feel the bloodlust roiling off of the mechanical creature.

"Wait! I have a better way for both sides to come out of this with our skins intact. I was honestly just looking around the system for my group. We were thinking about building a base out this way..." Luke blurted out. Mentally kicking himself for saying so much even if it fit with his off the cuff "scared kid" persona.

"Oh? And I suppose they would pay handsomely to get you back?" the gravelly voice asked with mild interest.

"Not... really but Vader would," Luke told them bluntly, obviously unsure of himself even as his eyes refused to leave the horrifying droid.

"Why would kriffing _Vader_ want some scrawny kid like _you_?" the nasal voice sneered.

"Its not me so much as my... dad pissed him off, something about damaging his enviro suit? I ran into him once on Bespin and he let me go saying something stupid about enjoying hunting me down and killing anyone who hurt me because I belong to him as his prey?" Luke offered up. He was liberally mixing in some of the stupid lines from bounty hunters he had fought off or killed over the years but figured Vader would understand.

"I don't believe you," gravel voice said flatly. It was really irritating him that all of the bright lights were keeping him from looking at anyone properly.

"Almost no one believes me when I tell them about that mess," Luke snorted in disgust. "Look, just... I'm listed under the bounties as Luke Skywalker but you better insist on _only_ handing me over to Vader directly. It doesn't matter if I actually did everything that's listed he wants me pretty badly."

"Nighty night," came a new whispered voice from the side and before Luke could try to twist his limp body around the stun bolt caught him at close range in the side. He was out cold before he finished his feeble instinctive jerk away from the pain of the stun blast.


	2. Chapter 2

Darth Vader looked up sharply at a poke of "pay attention" in the force as a message came into the communication pit on the bridge of his Super Star Destroyer. Before the officers involved could finish reviewing it and decide what to do he was hovering above them on his part of the command deck.

"Lord Vader," a nervous communications tech almost squeaked. "A message came in for you. The subject was listed as... Skywalker Brat. We were unable to trace it..."

"I will take it in my quarters. Admiral, expect a course change within the next hour," Vader ordered sternly before stalking off in the direction of the corridor.

"Yes, my Lord," Admiral Piett answered promptly.

Entering his quarters Darth Vader, once Anakin Skywalker, set himself up in his medical capsule and took off his helmet with a sense of relief. He hated the stupid suit and between it and the pain of injuries still unhealed more than twenty years after Kenobi inflicted them it often fueled his efforts to use the Dark Side of the force.

Unknown to his Imperial Master, however, the discovery of his son had changed how Vader connected with and used the force. Pure Joy and protective terror for his son as he watched Luke fall down the shaft at Bespin had shown him that the force was more than light and dark, intellectual & logical use versus pain, hatred, and all dark emotions. No, the force would react to _positive_ emotions as well and shoving emotions into the force now allowing said emotions - especially dark ones - to consume him completely was not the way towards true balance and understanding of the force.

In the same instant that he had watched Luke fall, expecting to die, a sense of understanding of why he needed to keep Organa close engulfed him. Somehow, someway, she was family and he had learned as a child on Tattooine that _family_ trumped any _master_ or the power of the sands and water. It was something of a relief to watch his son and the small family that bright light in the force that was Luke was building hyper out of Bespin even as Vader himself felt a conflicting cold rage at their escape through his fingers.

The console beeped, bringing him out of his thoughts as Vader keyed up the message and triggered it to play. The first thing he saw appear on the screen was Luke, kneeling and bound slumped and clearly barely conscious. The words being spoken by an unknown voice failed to register for a few precious seconds until the sith managed to focus on them despite the nasal voice.

"-rat, kept telling us that we didn't want to go hurting him and that you'd pay a pretty cred for his head and his intact hide. So, your Lordship, we figured we'd send off a message to ya and see if you were interested in him. Claims you've got him listed on the bounties as the Skywalker idiot or some such. Doubt this will get past your first round of com people but it wont hurt nothing to check and we can all wait a few weeks before taking the lies from his pretty little hide. He was oddly insistent that you come get him yer'self. Coordinates to pick him up are attached. Safe passage and all that rot on both sides for the next galactic month or two then we assume you don't want him and I get to _play_." the nasal voice finished up as the message ended. The final view of his bound an kneeling son, drugged out of his mind sent Vader into a cold, controlled fury. A quick message to the bridge sent the ship hurtling towards the provided coordinates.

A terse message response, text only, was sent back. "I want him" glowed brightly on the screen as it was transmitted into the depths of the eternal night. 12 galactic hours later the pirate ship would receive the message and Luke's immediate safety among his captors would be assured.

*+

The pirate captain was thin, wiry and had the oily disposition of a charming snake oil seller the captain looked like a less honorable dirty blond version of Han Solo with thin, almost rat-like features. The casual way he would hit his crew though gave Luke a _very_ bad feeling about what might have happened to him if the force hadn't prompted the Tattooine native to warn them off hurting him until Vader showed up. The glint of lust and occasional sadistic smirk sent his way didn't make him feel any better as he rested on the floor of the bridge, bound to an exposed support strut holding the captain's chair in place.

Luke had been half awake and barely able to hold his head upright during the recording of the message sent off to Vader. He didn't try to fight and mostly cooperated with his captors, listening to the whisper of warning from the force. From the location he was being kept until the sith arrived he figured that if someone got impatient or if Vader didn't show he was going to become the crew's plaything or the captain's private toy. Neither possibility filled him with joy. Water and food, ration bars, once a day kept him alive but he knew he was loosing weight and dehydration might become a dangerous problem if Vader didn't show up soon.

The chime of an incoming message drew Luke's sluggish attention but the looks of incredulity from those reading the message told him everything he needed to know. His father was coming.


	3. Chapter 3

Three days. Three days since his message had gotten to the pirates hiding his son. Three days of silence from the fools who thought he would abandon his son to their less than tender care. Three days since the force whispered a plan to keep Luke safely at his side. Two and a half days since he had managed to talk Palpatine into at least trying the plan as a way to keep Luke away from whatever Jedi he had been training under. Now, he was approaching the meeting point as he watched from the _Executor_ 's bridge.

"Sir, we are being hailed with a request for confirmation of Lord Vader's presence," the com officer announced, jolting the sith from his worried contemplation.

"Send the confirmation and remind them that Skywalker had better be intact if they want to survive past the day," Vader ordered ominously. A quick "Yes, sir!" was his answer.

Three hours later Vader was striding down a battered corridor of a non-descript freighter with a group of stormtroopers at his back to meet the captain in one of the ship's largely empty holds. Arriving at his destination, no thanks to the guiding pirate crew member, Vader observed a burly human male drag Luke away from the bulkhead he had clearly just landed against and forced him to kneel at their feet.

"Luke," Vader called out, alerting everyone of the presence of his party.

"Sir," Luke acknowledged, his cheek beginning to bruise from the earlier blow he had taken. Coming to a stop near the pirates Vader left Luke kneeling at his feet instead of taking him into his arms and holding him the way the sith wanted to. He knew he would have to settle for treating his son like a prisoner or a possession until certain things were discussed and sorted out but he didn't have to like it.

"Well well well, so ya weren't lying boy," the pirate captain smirked. "Pity, I would have liked to break you in before offering you to one o' the hutts but the credit you'll bring in will just have to satisfy... for now."

Luke growled and aimed to knock the man over with his shoulder only to be kicked in the gut and tumble on to his side.

"Foolish boy!" Vader snapped quietly as he watched Luke, his _son_ , be forced back into a kneeling position at his feet. Luke, for his part, bowed his head in submission to his father even as pride kept his back straight, hands cuffed behind his back.

"A gift, Lord Vader," the smug man offered, gesturing at the bound rebel commander. "I found it very interesting that he was willing to admit that you would pay handsomely for him in trade for his life. He must have been desperate to pick torture by _you_ over dying like his little reptile pet."

"You've never faced off against a jury-rigged interrogation droid crossed with an assassin droid while bolted down and drugged," Luke muttered resentfully. His muscles had gone tense at the other man's earlier words and he wanted gone even if the Noghri hadn't deserved what they had done to her.

"It is a former Jedi killer," the man smirked evilly. "From the records the techs claim to have found stored on it the killer bot portion took down 63 Jedi before being crippled."

"What exactly were you expecting to receive for this... gift," Vader asked ominously. He wanted his son _away_ from the killer bot _especially_ if it actually had been grafted on to an interrogation unit. He wasn't exactly pleased to have him near the pirates either.

"Well that's the trick isn't it? Its not like we're loyal Empire citizens and I really doubt you would actually pay how much is listed on the brat's bounty even if he really is Skywalker, which I doubt. Okay, I figured we'd humor the brat and call him in under the name he said too and then we could beat his real name and ID outta him. Only, low and behold, you actually show up!" the captain cackled.

"What do you want?" Vader demanded again, this time allowing his displeasure to seep through his vocoder.

"16 of your assault transport ships, fully supplied, with an instruction manual per ship. I believe your ship carries the Gamma-class ART-6 models? We also want 6 months worth of general supplies for 60,000 people and at least 6 of your Lambda T4a shuttles. If the brat is really worth his listed bounty you wont have any problem pulling all of that from your ship's stores to trade for him," the pirate captain demanded gaily. The hint of steel told them he was deadly serious about his demands.

"6 assault ships, 2 shuttles, and basic supplies for 30,000 for 6 months," Vader bartered.

"Got a limit on your supplies?" the pirate captain asked.

"A limit to what I can officially ignore pirates collecting before I am ordered after them with a full battle squadron," Vader corrected. "The remaining balance of the bounty will be given to you as a redeemable credit chit."

"6 shuttles, 6 assault ships, and supplies for 50,000 for 6 months and you can forget the rest of it in trade for ignoring this system for 6 months so that we can relocate," the pirate captain offered. They had a base to move and buying that 6 month window would net him a nice reputation bonus.

"I, personally, will ignore the system for 6 months but I can do nothing about the Emperor or some of the other Admirals to say nothing to the intelligence branches of the Empire," Vader warned. "My authority does have limits when I am not actively present."

"Fair," the pirate captain conceded. "A two day report delay added to it after leaving the system and you've got a deal."

"Done," Vader agreed with satisfaction. Grabbing Luke's arm he dragged his son to his feet and started heading for the shuttle and his flagship, towing the stumbling young man behind him. "The Lieutenant will see to the transfer of goods."

"Yes, sir!" one stormtrooper answered before taking the pirate captain aside and discussing the logistics of the transfer. The last of the physical payment would be transferred by the end of the third watch.

Father and son walked until they passed on to the Lambda shuttle with the rest of the security team bar the Lieutenant who was sorting out the payment of the agreed goods to the pirate. Vader would keep his word and then place a "kill on sight" order in the pirate's official file during his official report for touching his son. Silence stretched between the pair until Vader finally dragged his son into his personal quarters and very firmly sat him in a chair.

"Upon receiving the message of your capture it occurred to me that as my son it is unlikely that any attempt to keep you where you do not wish to be would fail at some point," Vader mused aloud. "I... have a _knack_ for such things and if word of your personal adventures is anything to go by you inherited it. Then too your mother also had a version of it even if her choice of career was politics rather than something less fraught with treachery."

"I gather that you have a better plan than simply locking me up?" Luke asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"The Emperor has agreed to offer you a deal. This deal will allow your rebel friends access to a selection of the core and mid-worlds to purchase supplies for a period of three months and 5 people you name to receive a full pardon. In exchange you will stay with me, at my side, for a minimum of six months with no attempts to escape or otherwise leave. During that time you will receive further force training, primarily light side unless otherwise agreed upon by all force sensitive parties involved, training in Royal duties as my son and public acknowledgement of that fact," Vader offered carefully. "I am, personally, willing to make a formal apology to your smuggler and the Princess as well as help retrieve Solo from Jabba."

"Would you mean it?" Luke asked shrewdly.

"Yes, and no. I would do a great deal to keep my family safe. You have clearly claimed the Princess and Solo as well as his Wookie as family. I will honor that and accept them as part of our family but I will tell you now only you and the Princess will receive my full protection as family members until and unless Solo happens to marry... your sister," Vader admitted softly. He waited, with dread, for his son to react.

Luke tensed, ready to run or fight and unsure of which action to take to defend his twin.

"It took time but whatever happened between us at Bespin stripped away whatever was hiding her in my sight. Less than a day before we arrived in system to retrieve you I randomly looked up her birth records... and the adoption records filed the same day," Vader admitted quickly. "Seeing the evidence as I instinctively reached for you in the force ripped away a force compulsion that had been woven directly into my mind when the Emperor reported the death of my wife and the child within her at my own hand. I had no defenses at that point during the events of that day and was in too much pain to notice the intrusion. She obviously lived long enough to give birth to both of you, I know that now."

"Father... I can't, not with the risk to Leia," Luke said softly. "If I could report in... but you wont let me do that."

"I will let you think on the offer. In the mean time you will tell me what exactly the pirate _scum_ did to you and how you fell into their hands," Vader said sternly, back in scary commander mode. Luke grimaced but fell into what the rebellion had taught him was an official debriefing and reported what had happened, leaving out only the current location of the active rebel base.


	4. Chapter 4

Less than a day after Luke had been dragged into his father's quarters he was still technically tied up and he had come to one conclusion. The rebellion actually had to be informed of the offer and consulted if he was going to seriously consider accepting it.

"You do realize that they will likely deem you an enemy and a target as soon as they know you are my son?" Vader asked pointedly when Luke had brought this fact firmly to his attention. Luke grimaced in acknowledgment.

"I know but this wont work without both sides knowing what is going on. Besides did you really think I was just cooperating when I didn't ask about a cell or getting these binders off a bit more often than just using the refresher?" Luke demanded. "I know perfectly well that any chance to escape is going to be some point away from you and that any credibility for both sides will be shot if I act hastily. Besides... the only thing I have to confirm that you are in fact my father is the force..."

Vader watched his son for a moment only to sigh in resignation at his offspring's clear stubborn determination. His point about needing more proof was reasonable but finding a source his rebel son would accept was the tricky part. This was especially true with the Emperor's dogged insistence on erasing Padme as his wife and all of Anakin Skywalker from existence, leaving only Vader.

"One communique... I would also _ask_ that your sister be among the five to receive a pardon. Her status as my biological daughter may yet come to light and I would rather she know that she has a safe haven with both of us regardless of past mistakes on my part," Vader told him sternly. "I will be present and this will happen on the bridge. I want a live connection if at all possible."

"I think I can arrange that... maybe," Luke said carefully. "It might need a message going in ahead of time to set up the com conference but it should be possible."

"Then write your message and we will have a holo conference," Vader agreed, pleased with himself over getting something more solid than a simple "yes, I will stay" from his son. The conference call request went out less than an hour later with a flat warning that Vader would be in attendence and that the offer they needed to hear was given with the blessing of the Emperor.

Three days later the Executor recived a message marked as being from the Mellenium Falcon with Leia's personal authorization code embedded into the transmission. The text gave a time and system in which the involved ships could meet and talk without being trapped by the other side. Vader ordered the heading change after letting Luke tripple check the message in private.

"Han once told me that smugglers use this system as neutral ground for settling disputes that could spill over into business _because_ its impossible to trap someone here. It doesn't stop crime lords like the hutts or pirate fleets from waging war but it works to keep the middle and small time smugglers from starting intergalactic wars trying to kill each other," Luke offered as the ship finally arrived at the specified system.

Vader looked over the charts and sensors as he unconsciously nodded his approval, humming under his breath with great interest. The system had a single star, a single gas giant suitable for emergency refueling, and several smashed planets forming a system wide debrie field. A nightmare for anyone to patrol or control but perfect for less than safe negotiations when dealing with capital ships or smaller. Neutral Ground, indeed.

Two days of waiting later a new group of ships entered the system. Vader was certain that he wasn't supposed to hear Luke mutter "Home One". The Millenium Falcon was soon seen to be flying escort and eventually took up station half way between the two parties before itinitating the com call and acting as the necessary relay station.

"This is the Millenium Falcon to both Rebels and Imperials, acting as the Neutral Relay point, please respond in a timely and curteous fashion," Lando Calrisian's voice drawled from the speakers.

"Calrisian," Vader growled in response.

"Vader!" Lando choked breifly like a hit to the gut before recovering his equilibrium. "Imperial ship your connection is coming through loud and clear."

There were some quiet sniggers from various Imperial bridge crew that were quickly cut off but no one was reprimanded.

"Calrisian, this is the Alliance ship Home One. Do you read?" the Mon Calamari voice of one Admiral Akbar came through the open com.

"Loud and clear Home One. Establishing joined link for direct communication between parties. One last thing, as the unofficial mediator I reserve the right to cut communication with one or both parties until you calm down and return to _civilized_ discourse. This is a long established protocol among those who use this Neutral Ground regularly," Calrisian warned before triggering the solid com connection between Imperials and Rebellion.

"Luke!" Leia Organa cried in shock as she saw him standing next to Vader in binders.

"Leia," Luke greeted her far more calmly than they were expecting. He was dressed in a full on black Imperial uniform from the Stormtrooper or Starfighter Corps that was missing any rank indicators but was otherwise clearly fine.

Leia could only guess that Luke's pilot status was the reason for that specific unmarked uniform but she was still glad to see that he appeared unharmed.

"Let me be blunt, as I explained to Commander Skywalker the Emperor has agreed to offer several benefits to the Rebellion as a whole in trade for his continued presence at my side and in my care for a minimum of six months. Frankly, no one has ever manage to keep a Skywalker chained for longer than ten years without their cooperation or the use of explosives placed inside their bodies. In every escape said Skywalker usualy manages to do major damage to whatever plans, operations, or persons were involved with keeping them chained. This might be good from your point of view as young Luke has chosen to ally with the rebellion but the side effects are unpredicatable at the best of times," Vader told them bluntly. "I have convinced the Emperor to offer this deal rather than waste lives and resources on both sides trying to control him."

"What exactly is this... deal?" Leia demanded suspiciously.

"In addition to staying at my side for a minimum of six months begining immediately Skywalker will be granted further force training, training as an Heir to the throne of the Empire, and will be acknowledged as my son openly. The rebellion will recieve three months free access to purchase anything they please on select core and mid-worlds without pursecution. as well as 5 full pardons of whom Skywalker will name the recipients, no questions asked," Vader informed them.

Silence engulfed both sides of the link as everyone thought through the shock and considered what exactly this meant.

"If I may Lord Vader? What exactly prompted this... generous offer?" Mon Mothma inquired with polite tightness.

"It has come to the attention of myself and the Emperor that he is in fact my son, stolen away by the Jedi," Vader said flatly. "As Luke was also unaware of this until I informed him after my own realization I can only assume that the _Jedi_ planned to use him as a weapon against myself and the Emperor. Thankfully, his primary guardians over the last twenty odd years obviously put a stop to the 'no attachments' idiocy. As this had become a core tenant of the Jedi order over the previous thousand years he was not trained in any fashion until he was nearly an adult due to the refusal of his guardians to allow this teaching to be impresed upon him. Something for which I am grateful for if only so that he was not brainwashed into being a living weapon but remained a _person_ instead. I know this technique intimately as for the first nine years of my own life I was a slave and upon examination by the Jedi was considered a threat as well as too old to train. I am uncertain what was threatened for them to officially accept me for training at the time but the fact that they effectively kidnapped me with the intent to brainwash me as a different kind of slave has never escaped my notice. The Emperor offered me protection for a family that Grandmaster _Yoda_ had ordered me to allow to die as I forsaw in my visions. Something I did not find acceptable and with only Palpatine offering me any kind of alternative I accepted his price... complete servitude until he deemed my _Sith_ training as complete."

The speechless silence that engulfed both sides stretched to uncomfortable lengths as Vader quietly seethed at the memory until Lando interrupted.

"Why don't we all take a break? Get some food? Visit the refresher? Maybe come back in an hour?" Lando suggested tentatively, reminding them all that he was playing com relay.

"That is more than acceptable to me," Akbar almost burbled with relief.

"Agreed," Vader said, calming down as he instinctively wrapped a tendril of the force around his son standing next to him.

The com call ended and Vader sorted out the suggested meal and use of the refresher for during the hour break. He had no illusions that the Rebels wouldn't be discussing the offered deal.

"What did the Emperor trick you with to bind you to him?" Luke asked quietly as they moved from the bridge and the temporarily ended com call. He was remembering Vader's very pointed declaration, in private, that _all_ young Skywalkers needed minders as well as the point that only bindings of their own making would hold a Skywalker.

"The life of your mother, your sister, and you..." Vader admitted quietly as he led his son to a conference room which had food being laid out for them and a nearby refresher. "I only recently discovered his lie, as you know, and until that point I had nothing to live for except my oath to serve him as everything else had been sacrificed in an attempt to save my family."

"You went about it wrong," Luke guessed, not even touching on the obvious idiocy of swearing to serve a _Sith Master_. After all Sith are known throughout history and the galaxy for their lies and treachery

"I went about it wrong," Vader agreed ruefully, echoing his son's words.

"We were the family you saw die, that _Yoda_ , _ordered_ you to let die," Luke realized with quiet horror.

"Yes," Vader confirmed quietly. Luke felt sick as the force sang a sorrowful confirmation of his understanding of his father's explanation, intertwining with the verbal confirmation.

"I gave Yoda my word that I would return... but it doesn't feel safe anymore," Luke whispered.

"He's _alive?!_ " Vader half shouted with a strangled roar, startling Luke. Before he could bolt power roiled from his father and swept him up in coils of protective fury, forcing him up against his father's powerful looming form.

"Father!" Luke gasped out in a wheeze as an iron grip wrapped around his torso, holding him tightly close to the upset Sith.

"If you are ever going back within reach of that blasted old troll it will be with _me_ at your side!" Vader demanded as he held his son close, not hurting him but clearly acting overly possessive to the sight of any outside observers.

"Yes sir!" Luke agreed quickly even as he wondered what the _kriff_ had just happened. Their lunch break was an oddly quiet affair after that.


	5. Chapter 5

Re-establishing the com link between the two groups was a pain, worse than the first time. It gave Luke time to think and wonder even as Vader hovered impatiently at his side. A quick round of confirmations once the link was fully active again had everyone ready to talk once more. Luke noted that Mon Mothma, Admiral Akbar, and General Madine along with Leia were still the only Alliance High Command Members present on the com but the increase in "discrete" security standing around his sister made him _very_ uneasy.

"Before we begin again, as an act of good faith I am informing you that I want Princess Organa but do not yet have sufficient ability to protect her from some of the potential threats. Openly declaring Luke my son will give him a level of protection from those same threats, something I would not mind extending to the Princess," Vader commented mildly. "I am, however, perfectly aware that my past actions towards her would not necessarily be conducive to her accepting an offer of adoption to extend that same protection."

"What?!" Luke asked in shock. He had been under the impression that they were ignoring Leia for her own protection. Which, to be fair, the wording still somewhat implied.

"Come now, you didn't think me so unaware as to not notice your attempts to protect her?" Vader rebuked his son, at the same time giving a public reason for his positive attention towards his daughter. Luke openly glowered at the Sith but his father could see the well hidden relief in his eyes.

"Its not romantic," Luke put out immediately, wanting that clear to anyone watching.

"It is not," Vader agreed. "You clearly see her more as a _sister_. Were it a more traditional Sith training you as an apprentice you would eventually be forced to kill her as a method of purging all sympathetic links to anyone not under your control. The opposite end of the Jedi no attachment rule."

"Will this be required of him?" Mon Mothma asked frostily.

"No, not unless the Emperor manages to enslave him first. It is a practice I find utterly repugnant in both its forms among both the Jedi and the Sith," Vader told them bluntly. "The only reason I wasn't forced into the practice myself is that until now, with Luke showing promise as an apprentice, there was no one left with a sufficient emotional connection for me to be forced into killing. Luke is more likely to be ordered to kill me than the reverse at this point. It is also one of the reasons I fell. I used my emotional connections, completely against the Jedi code, to anchor me in the light. Once they were gone, combined with my past, there was no reason _not_ to fall for all that my Master practically _shoved_ me into the dark side."

"You are being very free with all of this," Leia pointed out suspiciously.

"And yet it gives me a better chance of keeping my son at my side and keeping him alive long enough to learn to defend himself properly," Vader shot back acidly. "Were it for any other reason than to protect my child you would learn nothing from me on this or anything else."

"What exactly is in all of this for the Empire?" Madine demanded. "From what I can tell we get all of the benefits."

"A firm knowledge of where exactly Luke is, his establishment as the Imperial Prince - thus securing the succession, and the rebellion too busy freely buying up supplies for three months to be worried over," Vader smirked at them. "If I thought I could get the Princess in the deal as well than I would do so. I did, however, argue with Tarkin over destroying Alderran but he had overall command at that point and I could not countermand his order to destroy the planet. The only option I had at the time was try to keep the Princess from doing something stupid which would have seen whatever remained afterwards of her people hunted to extinction."

"What about Han?" Luke asked restlessly. These tid bits about Alderran were interesting and probably important but they still hadn't covered Han yet despite Vader's promise to help.

"Ah, yes, the smuggler. His rescue and return to your rebellion is a part of the personal incentive for you and the Princess," Vader smirked. "Just as the full pardon of five people of your choosing and the unaligned force training is."

"Unaligned?" Leia asked jumping on it before anyone else could speak. She refused to think about what Vader had implied about her people, not now, not yet.

"Force training that freely applies to all force sensitives rather than relying on the teachings of the Dark or Light side of the force exclusively," Vader clarified. "Something which I suspect I can safely offer to you as well Princess. After all your birth parents both had some level of force sensitivity so it stands to reason that you may have it as well, even if it is currently dormant. Then again the Organa's did well with raising you after your adoption in infancy. If they hadn't you would have died long before now on the Emperor's order, as an object lesson to your parents."

Leia was heard to swallow hard before visually checking on Luke and going back to listening more than speaking. She did _not_ want more of her personal details brought up in this conference, too many of them still hurt.

"So you plan to keep him as a _pet_ ," Madine sneered cruelly. It was clear to everyone that he was intentionally provoking the Sith Lord.

"Young Skywalkers have _always_ needed minders of some kind and _always_ find trouble or escape from impossible situations complete with the chaos of destroying whatever or whoever tried to hold them. The only reason Kenobi fell on the Death Star was that he used himself as a sacrifice and a distraction and he didn't even die _properly_!" Vader snarled. "The _only_ way to hold young Luke without killing him is with his willing cooperation. I managed to convince the Emperor to offer a deal but there are still limits."

"What do you mean he didn't die properly?" Luke asked, startled. The point about minders had been brought up in private discussion between the two repeatedly since Luke had been rescued from the pirates so he mostly ignored it.

"He managed to transcend completely into being a force ghost. No body left behind and a very reasonable, if difficult, possibility that he might return to the living at some point in the future," Vader admitted grumpily. "The fact that he managed to convert his physical form once into an energy form and thus a force ghost rather than leaving behind a body makes it far more likely that he will bother to locate and use the technique to return to a body of flesh and blood as provided by the force."

Everyone on the com call and nearby on the Imperial bridge stared at the openly sulking Sith Lord in shock.

"Is that why there is still a bounty on him?" Luke choked out. Vader nodded without looking at his son but otherwise didn't answer.

"Well next time I see his force ghost I'll mention it to him..." Luke said slowly only for Vader to slowly turn his own head and _glower_ through his mask.

"Tell me what?" Obi-Wan Kenobi's ghost asked, causing father and son to turn and stare at him just off camera.

"Ben!" Luke greeted cheerfully.

"Kenobi," Vader growled in a less than happy greeting.

"Do I want to know?" General Madine demanded slowly as if dealing with crazy people.

"No, you do not," Vader said grumpily. "Force events don't make much sense to someone who can't feel it themselves and Force Ghosts make even _less_ sense to those not force sensitive even when dealing with someone _reasonable_ , which Kenobi is _not_."

"Now, Anakin I am hardly unreasonable. In point of fact the only reason I _can_ visit you is that the dark compulsions woven into your mind over the years are either ripped away or currently crumbling," Kenobi rebuked him. "I never understood how you fell until I realized _who_ the Sith Master was. All I can do is apologize. Apologize for not seeing the danger and protecting you from it. I did my best to protect your children but Yoda ordered them separated. I could only stay with one of them so I went with Luke, partly because he was given your family name and partly because we hid in plain sight on Tattooine."

"Luke?" Leia asked in concern over the com. She really wanted to know what was going on.

"Ben Kenobi's ghost popped up and is scolding Vader," Luke smirked, enjoying himself _way_ too much to care what anyone watching might think for all that only the father-son duo could understand the force ghost.

"I would certainly pay to be able to see that," Mon Mothma smirked, remembering a time when she had caught the man scolding his former padawan for reckless flying while chasing down an assassin. She was completely unaware that she was witnessing almost a repeat of the exact same incident.

"Enough, Kenobi," Vader growled, opting to ignore the force ghost for the moment. "Does your _Alliance_ agree to the terms or not?"

"What are the penalties?" Luke asked quickly.

"Failure to remain at my side for the minimum of six months, barring issues from the Imperial side, forfeits the rebellion's free access to the selected worlds immediately. The overlap of free access time to those selected worlds can not exceed six months in total and is limited to three months per world at which point all laws regarding rebel forces will come back into play full force," Vader told them.

"What of the penalties to the Empire should your people not act in good faith?" Leia asked smoothly.

"They answer directly to _me_ ," Vader informed them darkly. Everyone shivered in reaction to that dark promise of pain and death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so I am opting to ask for input at this point just because musey is being an insistent brat but refuses to give me stuff for the in between part. Current next step is training and public announcement of Luke as Vader's son. At some point the Emperor wants to meet him.... Ideas?
> 
> Edit ~2 weeks after posting:  
> Okay my tablet - my only solid link to the internet - is dying. I have no way to fix it or replace it just now so updates will probably not happen unless I can get to an open library or someone (probably a family member) either donates a new tablet or lets me borrow their computer. Sorry people. This world wide lock down prevents me from just using the library computers...


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! My tablet/internet link is no longer broken! Yay! I left a note at the end of last chapter about it when I realized what was happening & found a temporary link just long enough to post about the issue. Sorry I disappeared but I am back now!
> 
> I will say this however, re-soldering a mini-USB power port in a tablet _by hand_ is a _nightmare_ especially when using one of those $20 walmart solder irons on the itty bitty connectors and stupidly small feet keeping the port connected to the mother board. For those techies trying to imagine it... try it _without_ soldering flux on top of all that... Pain in the _rear end!_
> 
> Still, I saved $100 bucks by doing it myself instead of a professional with the proper tools doing it.
> 
> On to the story!  
> Sorry its not bigger but I was fixing the tablet & trying to avoid cabin fever without a tablet....
> 
> * * *

There wasn't much more to say on the presented deal after that so they ended the com conference to think it over properly. Father and son with Obi-Wan tagging along behind them like an annoying kite floating too close retired to a conference room two decks down from the bridge. Amid much pestering from the still present force ghost Luke explained, with various more precise clarifications from Vader about his fall, what had happened so far to Obi-Wan.

"Why, exactly, is Palpatine allowing this?" Obi-Wan asked neutrally. "After all he went out his way to keep Vader close and practically forced him to fall if what you've both told me is true. It doesn't make sense."

"He's gotten old. I still can't take him, largely due to my own injuries, but we've been coming to the point of the Apprentice killing the Master to become the Master for some time now. I just didn't have the motivation to complete the Sith cycle," Vader explained. "I did, for a time, have a hidden Sith Apprentice. In accordance with Sith tradition I betrayed him when Palpatine confronted us over his existence... something I regret as he continued to display uncommon loyalty to me. Unfortunately that same loyalty is what made him unsuited to the Sith Order. He died on the Death Star during a battle to rescue several of the rebellion leaders, following part of an abandoned plan to help the rebellion aid me in overthrowing Palpatine. He died two years before Luke destroyed the Death Star at Yavin."

"Which doesn't explain why neither of you are forcing Luke towards the Dark," Obi-Wan explained patiently. "Now answer the question."

"Skywalkers, as you know, don't take well to _traditional_ training," Vader said wryly. "It was my own experiences as a slave that allowed me to learn under both Jedi and Sith doctrines. This combined with the apparent _family_ knack for finding trouble and escaping it with much destruction and chaos, mostly aimed at the restraining force or organization, is reason enough to limit any restraints. Essentially this only works for our family when we _choose_ to allow it even if it takes decades for us to figure out our escape. I simply pointed out to the Emperor that if we wanted to avoid accidentally shattering the Empire the way I was so devastating against the Separatists forcing the issue without Luke's cooperation simply wouldn't work."

"You... you are trying to escape..." Obi-Wan realized in stunned wonder. Vader inclined his head, happy that recording devices couldn't capture the force ghost side of such a conversation.

"Currently the best course of action, until Luke decides for himself, is to insist on neutral and Grey Force training or even to teach him a few more Jedi techniques. Palpatine was extremely displeased to realize that you had been the one to keep me under the best control during the majority of my training because I respected you as Qui-Gon's apprentice and then in your own right. The Emperor would have killed me if he had done the majority of my early training," Vader informed him half sheepishly. "A large part of my fall was due to mis-treatment by the Jedi _Council_ with the rest of the Order picking up on their treatment and adding to it. It took me years to realize that you really didn't know what they were doing with several Masters shielding it from your awareness. I had seen it happen among other slaves but hadn't experienced it myself before so it took time for me to figure it out."

"But it didn't stop the resentment," Luke observed quietly.

"It didn't stop the resentment," Vader agreed. "It just made it stronger. By the time I was ready for my trials only Obi-Wan and a stubborn desire to at least be Knighted kept me in the Order. After that it was the war, Obi-Wan, and eventually my Padawan - who left the order in disgust at their own mis-treatment of her, kept me in the Order and in range of Palpatine. Not that he realized until years after the formation of the Empire that his technique to force me to fall had nearly lost me entirely. Had I known about Padme's brief survival and your birth I would have simply disappeared with you and perhaps taken the 501st as well as Obi-Wan and the 212th with me when I left - assuming the chips could have been neutralized in time."

"Then... Cody didn't betray me," Obi-Wan concluded in shock as his mind stuttered over the mention of chips before the Force nudged it to focus on the anti-aggression chips that every clone trooper had inside their skulls from "birth".

Vader didn't comment. He didn't need to. The trio stood there in contemplative silence for a time before Obi-Wan, still pensive, bid them farewell and faded back into the force.

"So," Luke started, breaking the comfortable silence. "Is keeping me in binders just for show or are you actually intending to keep me like this for a while? Not that I'm complaining since you've kept me away from the detention center and the Interrogators."

"Mostly for show, getting out of them isn't that hard for someone with semi-reliable access to the force," Vader admitted. "The trick is learning the internals well enough to pull it off or being enough in tune with the force to feel it directly. Keeping you with me is actually more effective but I would just as soon not have you in them for my own reasons. At this point its mostly to keep the officers happy until your transfer has officially gone through and all of the paperwork is in place."

Luke hummed thoughtfully as they waited for the Alliance High Council to make up its mind.


	7. Chapter 7

"Giving up Skywalker isn't an option!" Mon Mothma snapped at her fellow rebellion leaders. They had been arguing over the decision for almost half an hour at this point and had barely touched the refreshments that had been fetched.

"What good does he do us? As the Son of Vader not only will he not be allowed to return now that his father has a hold on him but he is also a traitor to the Alliance!" Madine spat back. "I can barely justify the protections on Organa now much less what I am going to have scrap together in response to Vader's declaration of interest in adopting her! Hell, that alone puts her under suspicion. I don't care about this insane religion you ascribe to about the force but Skywalker isn't worth the resources lost in refusing this deal!"

"To clarify, are you recommending branding Commander Skywalker as a traitor based on a previously completely unknown familial connection or simply insisting on accepting and then retrieving him later?" Akbar inquired shrewdly. He knew it wasn't the retrieval option since Madine had become increasingly paranoid about Skywalker and his budding Jedi abilities. Something which had nearly gotten the young man shot for treason upon his return from the unexpected Jedi training after escaping Hoth. The further refusal to divulge where the hidden Jedi was who had trained him while he was gone hadn't helped any either.

"He had better not be with more than half of the Alliance holding some form of previous or current connection to someone within the Empire," Mon Mothma said frostily, unconsciously snarling at her combative colleague.

Leia was shocked at the complete loss of composure from her fellow former senator.

"Would you even accept the retrieval option?" Madine asked carefully, wary suddenly of the normally placid council member.

"Only with Skywalker's active insistence on leaving him with Vader," Mon agreed just as warily as she regained her composure. "Until he actually commits treason he is not to be declared a traitor."

"Fine," Madine grumbled. He would just have to get a few that were especially loyal to him personally to handle Skywalker be it via capture and interrogation or assassination.

Madine had no idea that his plotting was sending a warning through the force to all three blood Skywalkers. Leia heard the whisper to run and hide, to get to Luke and Vader. Luke heard the hiss not to leave his fathers side and to call Leia to him, to protect his twin within his father's shadow. Vader heard a low growl of warning and possessiveness that told him he needed to claim and keep his children close, _away_ from the rebellion. The whisper of caution on moving too quickly to retrieve his daughter was all that kept him from rashly ordering her immediate, and violent, retrieval.

"As long as this council is officially pardoned and we keep Princess Organa I am willing to withhold judgement on Skywalker's actions," Madine said grumpily. That ended the last objection beyond it possibly being an elaborate trap. As a result they commed their agreement and signed a digital version of the deal on both sides for the official records within the hour.

Vader swallowed bile as he watched the rebels hyper away with his daughter, knowing that any attempt to retrieve her until she broke from them or was betrayed by them would only get her killed.

"I'll send a warning to rogue and wraith squadrons. They'll look out for her," Luke told his father quietly as they watched the hyper footprints fade from view.

In answer Vader removed the binders from his son and very deliberately crushed them with the force.

"She would not have listened to us had we attempted to warn her," Vader said, equally quietly. "I will send at least three Noghri to her and few other agents as gifts and instructions that they are to answer only to her. I will give them permission to protect her even from me and tell them to use my resources to keep her alive if things go wrong."

"Thank you father," Luke said gratefully. With a nod Vader lead them from the command bridge and headed for the quartermaster's office. It was time to outfit his son properly. Training would begin on the morrow.


End file.
